Rumpke Recycling

Rumpke Recycling officially became a division of Rumpke Consolidated Companies, Inc. in 1989. Today, Rumpke Recycling is one of the largest recyclers in the Midwest and proudly recycles hundreds of millions of pounds of materials at its eight recycling centers annually. 

Rumpke Recycling offers a wide range of recycling services from residential curbside service and composting, to commercial and industrial recycling programs, including tire and electronics recycling. The company is also home to the largest landfill gas-to-pipeline facility in the world and developed an innovative form of glass recycling. 

The recycling concept was nothing new to Rumpke when they established Rumpke Recycling in 1989. In fact, by the 1990s, Rumpke had already been recycling for more than 60 years. 

In 1932 as the country slowly recovered from The Great Depression, brothers William F. Rumpke Sr. and Bernard Rumpke were beginning to build their hog farm operation. The family began collecting garbage from local restaurants and homes throughout Cincinnati to feed their growing hog stock. 

Soon, the creative team realized many of the items they were collecting were reusable. The novel entrepreneurs constructed conveyor systems at their farm. Upon arrival at the farm, the garbage was unloaded onto the conveyors, and Rumpke employees carefully selected items for reuse, including glass, metals and rags. 

From 1932 to 1989, the Rumpke organization experienced tremendous growth. During the 1950s, they converted their hog farm into a landfill and continued their waste collection and recycling operations. During the following decades, the second-generation, family-owned company emerged as one of the largest waste haulers in the United States, owning a large fleet of vehicles and several landfills throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Not to mention, Rumpke added a gas recovery system at its largest landfill in 1986 to recover methane gas produced from decomposing garbage for use as natural gas energy. 

The passage of Ohio House Bill 592* only spurred Rumpke to develop and formally recognize a division called Rumpke Recycling in 1989. From 1989 to 1995, Rumpke Recycling grew by leaps and bounds, opening several recycling facilities in locations including:  

Cincinnati, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Circleville, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Louisville, Ky.
Ashland, Ky. (moved to Ironton, Ohio in 2006)

Rumpke Recycling looks forward to continuing its long history of recycling for years to come.